What Stands Between
by Starlight226
Summary: After the events in What They Become, the team is still putting the pieces together. Skye is isolated from all of them yet still has to do the same. And, of course, May's not going to let her do it alone. [This does take place in my Doors-verse, meaning these two already have a close and complex relationship. Events from those stories are referenced in later chapters.] *Rtng chnged
1. Chapter 1

Had it really only been _one day_?

One day since Skye went head-to-fist with May's creepy evil twin when SHIELD extracted Raina from hiding. One day since Raina sat across the table on the Bus and described just what could happen in the Temple if the worthy ones brought the Diviner into it. Less than a day since a HYDRA plane docked on top of the airborne Bus and _Grant_ _fucking Ward_came walking in like he owned the place, coolly demanding Raina and Skye leave with him…and Skye had left May's side to walk out with him.

It was only this morning that their plane had landed in San Juan and Ward had escorted her into a room where her father was waiting. Just this morning that she had learned about her mother for the first time. Just today that she picked up the Obelisk and seen the terrifying confirmation. Just a few hours ago that she had raced down to the underground city after Raina and arrived just in time to be too late.

And sometime in the last few hours, an earthquake had pulled the room down around them both, leaving Skye trapped in darkness until Fitz, Simmons, and a team had unearthed her from the pile of rubble that was all that remained of the Temple.

Once she fumbled out the story of what had happened with the Obelisk and what she knew had happened to both Raina and Trip, once the initial shock and disbelief had worn off…Simmons had snapped into action. She had slapped a hazmat suit on Skye and ushered her quickly to the Bus where a makeshift quarantine was set up in the former lab area just for her.

"It would be simpler to put you in the Cage," Simmons said apologetically from behind her mask as she used duct tape to seal a plastic dropcloth to the ceiling around Skye, "but Mack's already in there…and until we know for sure that he's fully himself again, it'd be best to keep him separated from anyone else."

"Sure. Right. Of course." Skye makes herself say it as they seal the plastic to the floor around her. "What if I have to go to the bathroom?"

Simmons meets her eyes through the barrier. They both try to smile. And God, they need to laugh, but instead the following seconds feel like the suspended silence following the announcement of someone's death, where there is everything feel and nothing to say.

Distance yawns in Skye's stomach, and neither says anything else until Simmons and her team finish their job and prepare to head back to the underground city.

"I'll radio everyone else and tell them where they can find you," Simmons says as Skye strips off the hazmat suit, useless now that she's sealed off from everyone. "I'm sure everyone else wants to see that you're all right."

But Skye is in the plastic room for nearly an hour longer before anyone came by who isn't suited up in full hazmat gear. When she sees her though, Skye leaps to her feet.

"May!"

May's not the kind of person to run towards anything out of an emotion other than concern, but Skye notices the energy in her step, the tension in her arms, the visible sustained exhale. She's relieved.

As May comes closer, Skye presses her hand against the flexible plastic wall between her S.O. and herself.

"Jesus, May, what's going on out there? What happened since…yesterday? Whitehall said he ordered this plane shot from the sky. How did you get out of that? Tell me everything."

She tries not to look disappointed when May doesn't mirror the gesture and ignores all her questions, just drags over a crate and sits down on it as close to the plastic barrier as possible, laying her tablet across her knees and pressing a tiny mic against the plastic between them.

Skye sighs and sits back down, as close as she can get to May. _Of course. Debrief while the memories are fresh._

_When all else fails, fall back on protocol._

"I _will_ tell you what happened, but you're up first, and I think you've got a lot more to share." May's tone is almost apologetic, but it's hidden beneath the all-business Agent persona right now.

May leans toward her, her eyes intent. "Tell me everything. Starting with when you went with Ward."

Skye breathes in once. Twice. Then leans towards the microphone, and starts her story.

The audio level lines dance on the screen of May's tablet as Skye details the last 24 hours. When she reaches the point where today started- with the worst reunion imaginable-May mercifully doesn't press into the details of feelings, but she does ask her to repeat any information that seems useful.

As Skye replays their conversation in her head, she realizes that she will be skipping over a lot.

_"You're a monster,"_she had said to Cal._"A murderer. A trail of death wherever you go."_

He had barely hesitated to respond. _"Those are all true…but I didn't lose you. I didn't forget. I wasn't careless. You were stolen from me!"_

"Apparently I was born in China," she says aloud to May, whose expression remains unchanged throughout the whole story. "And my mother was Chinese. My father-he said his name is Cal-he said they worked in a clinic. Apparently people liked him… he must have been a different person then. He said that people who called themselves SHIELD came and took my mother away because she had a gift that they thought was dangerous. Whitehall apparently butchered her because of it. And that's why my dad was planning to kill him once he used him to get to me."

She can't make herself watch May's reaction to that, so she stares into the nearest corner as she continues.

"When the HYDRA agents brought me face to face with Whitehall, Ward and my dad were there too. I heard Whitehall say that Ward deferred the order to shoot down the Bus, and Whitehall had to counter the order. For about thirty minutes, I had to _not think_ about the fact that you all were possibly dead."

She skips over the part about picking up the Obelisk and seeing it turn gold in her hand, or how she used it to kill a HYDRA agent while her father stabbed another…how Whitehall had seemed so _goddamn_ smug when he said, "I hope you're as special as your mother"…

"It wasn't much later before Ward and I were tied to chairs in a kitchen. He was screwing with TheOtherMay, asking about her face and Whitehall. She said she was loyal to him. So I'm not sure what that means for her, now that he's dead.

"Whitehall came back in as Cal was coming to, but somehow he paralyzed him while telling him that he wanted to keep him alive so that Cal could see what Whitehall did to me. Fortunately, it sounded like that was the moment the Cavalry arrived."

May flicks the plastic near Skye's ear, a seemingly automatic response. Skye jerks away and tries to shoot her a cheeky grin, but she can't seem to get her facial muscles to work.

"Ward distracted the guard while Cal got the paralyzer off and jumped him, but he didn't untie either of us before going out to find Whitehall. Ward got a knife off the soldier and cut us lose, but I got the gun when his back was turned and put four in him."

"You didn't kill him."

Skye glances up at her S.O.

May's gaze is dark, her lips pressed together. She doesn't have to open her mouth for Skye to hear the reprimand.

_I taught you how to do it with one. Four is just for pain._

Skye rips her gaze away and continues, "I ran across Whitehall's body, then I found Coulson and Cal fighting-he nearly killed Coulson…he only stopped when I called him _Dad_. I had my gun on him and gave him one chance to walk away. He did-not sure where to...Coulson tried to stop me, but I ran off with the plan to stop the drill and make it right. Instead, I found a drill finished digging and an empty box-Raina had already gone down. So I went down to stop her.

"I ran into Mack, but he wouldn't budge-he wasn't himself…so I said I would come back as I tore off after Raina. I found her with the Obelisk in hand in the Temple. I told her we're taking it and leaving- but then the obelisk turned gold and floated from her hand onto the pedestal…and then the walls started closing up.

Skye feels her throat starting to do the same. _Come on. Make it through this story once._

"Trip ran in at the last moment, just before the walls sealed. The metal of the Obelisk opened and these blue crystals grew out of it. Then there was an explosion, and we all started turning to stone. Like what the obelisk did to everyone else before. I think I screamed to Trip, and I saw him reach for his gun…"

Skye's hands knot into fists against the cold metal floor, and she presses them against her eyes, doing her best to blur the vision behind them.

"The next thing I remember was the stone falling away from my eyes-and seeing him turned to stone too. Then the earthquake started…the cave started crumbling around us…and he was crumbling too."

Skye keeps her hands dug into her eyes, falling back on her relaxing techniques until she feels her throat relax enough to speak again. When she looks up, May is staring down at her tablet. Slowly, the woman disconnects the wire from the microphone and pulls it off the barrier, staring down at her hands as she meticulously winds the wire around her fingers.

"We do have Whitehall's body, but we didn't find any trace of Ward, Agent 33, or your father in the San Juan theater. And so far, there's been no trace of Raina…or her body."

"What about Trip?" Skye hears her voice quaver and shuts her mouth again.

May's gaze is soft as she finally looks up at her. "Coulson will go meet his mother as soon as possible to tell her the news."

Skye swallows and nods, and suddenly the room around her feels very, very small.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" May's tone is so gentle that Skye feels too ashamed to look at her as a dozen more facts lodge in her throat.

_I come from a line of people who had gifts._

_My mother didn't age, and Whitehall butchered her for it._

_I picked up the Obelisk and didn't die, then I killed a man with it._

_My father said it was my destiny to go into that temple._

_He said no one would understand me after I changed._

_I said I ran into the Temple after Raina, but now I'm not sure if that's the whole truth._

_I am still waiting for this buzzing inside me to stop._

She allows herself to only voice one.

"My parents named me Daisy."

Through the plastic, Skye sees an unnamable expression flit across May's face. The woman reaches up and puts her hand against the barrier between them, and Skye doesn't hesitate to put her hand against it and press back.

May's dark eyes hold her gaze as she says the worst thing, the best thing, the only words that are appropriate right now.

"You did great, Agent Skye."

And Skye can only offer the barest imitation of a smile, but they both know it's enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days and a lifetime later, after Fitz has faked Skye's blood work and Simmons has released her from quarantine, Skye finally finds herself in the company of her team again, sitting around reminiscing about Trip, the melancholy mixing with the laughter, diluting it just enough to be a palatable poison.

At one point, Skye's eyes drift to May and find the woman already watching her, her expression unreadable. Skye's eyes flicker away automatically, the impulse to hide any truth betrayed in her eyes her usual giveaway. Instead she stares down into her bottle, which looks suspiciously similar to the mouth of a cave, dropping down, down into darkness.

She only lasts a few more minutes after that. When she sets her empty on the table and stands, her eyes meet May's again for just a moment before she leaves the room without a word.

As she stumbles back to her room, the earth-shifting words of the past few days swirl around in her head, disjointed phrases mixing in a tumbler. Somehow, she gets through the right door. Somehow, she gets her clothes changed. Somehow, she gets into her bed.

But once there's nothing else to focus on, there's no other thought to drown out the storm.

_You're exactly where you're supposed to be._

_I hope they've said their goodbyes._

_I hope you're as special as your mother._

_What's supposed to happen?_

_Something beautiful._

_Best. Day. Ever._

_If you want to leave, now's your chance._

_Sometimes it makes you just wanna pack up and run._

_No one asked for any of this to happen._

_I should have to ask you to save one of our own!_

_Everyone gets out alive._

_Never turn your back on the enemy._

_He cut her to pieces…He dumped what has left in a ditch like she was garbage._

_Trip was in fragments!_

_You never get used to losing one of your own._

_He died a hero._

_No! He traded his life for hers!_

_We're gonna laugh a lot less. That's for sure._

_How do we stop it?_

_Everything that's about to happen is meant to happen._

_We finally get to see what we become._

_After you change, no one else will understand. They'll be afraid. Change is terrifying._

_It's for your own good. _

_You're just different now, and there's nothing wrong with that._

_Plagues must be understood, yes, but eventually, they have to be eradicated._

_It's a miracle you're still alive._

_Basically unharmed with destruction all around you._

_Skye, no! Don't go down there!_

_It ends with him._

_I could have stopped her! I let this happen!_

_You mean my samples were different?_

_Drastically._

_After you change, no one else will understand. They'll be afraid. Change is terrifying._

_No. That's inhuman._

_It's horrific!_

_I'm gonna make somebody pay, whoever the hell it is._

_Wouldn't want you to have to stay in there forever._

_It's for your own good. Temporary._

_I know I'm a terrible disappointment to you, but everything that's about the happen is supposed to happen….You're exactly where you're supposed to be._

_I'm sorry I couldn't teach you about the stars. Or sing you to sleep._

_That's inhuman._

_It's horrific!_

_I will always love you, Daisy._

She hears May slip through the door and close it quietly behind her. She feels the slight dip in the mattress as the woman perches on the edge, just over Skye's shoulder. There is no hesitation, only gentleness, as May rests a hand on Skye's back.

"Tell me." It's a request. Not a command.

Skye wants to tell her everything. Wants to describe how she felt when the ground began to shake. Wants to explain why she's not sure anymore that she should be here. Wants to tell May about every newfound demon from the last two days that she'll get to carry around now.

But if it's too much, too scary…if May leaves her now…then Skye doesn't know what she'll do. She can't take that risk.

So she goes with the simplest truth.

"It's my fault," Skye whispers into the darkness before her. "I shouldn't have gone in there in the first place…He was there to save me…and now he's gone."

A heavy sigh seeps out of May, and Skye hears her unzipping her boots to slip them off before sliding onto the mattress and stretching out next to Skye.

"Neither of us can know what could have happened if even the smallest event had happened differently. But it sounds to me like Trip died the way he lived. Bravely, and looking out for others before himself."

No petty pass-offs or untrue assurances. Neither of them needs to hear a half-hearted "it's not your fault."

_There's no escape from this mess. No way to pretend that it didn't happen and that everything isn't different…or that I'm not responsible for everything. _

_It was one thing to know that my father is a monster, but now I am too. _

Skye rolls over to face the woman, their dark gazes meeting as she lets her hand rest on the mattress between them like a question mark.

May touches Skye's hand gently, turning it over and tracing lightly over the fresh gauze taped to her palm. Her eyes fall to the wound as she speaks.

"I wish this wasn't something I could say we have in common now."

_But now we both know what it feels like to come out with blood on our hands._

And Skye realizes that she's next to perhaps the only person who actually understands. Understands that right now, she needs comfort but not promises, reassurance but not lies.

May keeps talking, her fingers moving lightly over Skye's hand the whole time. Skye knows what she's doing: focusing on the one thing she does have experience with, saying words she's needed to hear before.

"We do the things that we feel are right. Sometimes, this is how it ends. With a story, and regrets. I wish I could tell you that both will get easier. But it all depends on what you do with it."

Skye feels her throat closing again, feels the fear, the blank void ahead of her, felt far too many times already for a single year…

_We finally get to see what we become._

_That's inhuman._

_It's horrific!_

_I will always love you, Daisy._

A jolt of pain brings her back-her hand had reflexively tightened around May's, pinching the wound. As Skye's eyes snap open, she sees the woman's eyes flickering back and forth over her face, taking in everything, analyzing to act…

But this time, May lets her call it.

"What do you need right now?" she asks in a whisper, her gaze holding Skye's unflinchingly.

And Skye may not know where this is going, but she knows where it has to start.

Skye hesitates only a moment before reaching out, covering May's hand with her other, uninjured one, and tucking her head down and brushing her lips against May's fingers.

"Right now…I think I just need you to not let go."

And before she can do a damn thing about it, the tears are there.

If she had been able to feel anything except the sucking, swallowing grief, Skye might have felt embarrassed, ashamed even though this isn't even the first time May has seen her this way…but there is no room for anything else. The black hole of grief is taking everything-pulling everything inside into the darkest, densest, heaviest weight, and there is no resistance left in her. She tucks her face beneath May's chin as the woman's arms wrap around her, letting the strangled sobs say what Skye can't stop playing on an endless loop in her head-

_My fault, my fault, my fault…_

She burrows into May's embrace and doesn't even notice the bed trembling.


	3. Chapter 3

When Skye wakes up God-knows-how-long later, she has about ten peaceful seconds. Peaceful because time and memory take a moment to catch up, and until her palm twinges in pain as she flexes her hand, she's forgotten the last three days and all the pain that has filled them. Peaceful because her cheek is pressed against a heartbeat and there is warmth surrounding her on all sides.

Peaceful because someone didn't let go.

Skye is sprawled beside May, her head pillowed on the woman's chest and arm thrown across her middle. Skye is surprised to see their fingers still tangled together, but perhaps more surprising is that May is actually asleep. Dead to the world, breathing deep and even, face slack, her arm heavy across Skye's shoulders and hair fanned across Skye's pillow. Seeing her like this feels like catching a teacher outside of school-as if she's seeing something inappropriate, or improper...yet Skye can't help but stare as long as the moment lasts.

This close, Skye can now see the cut healing in the corner of the woman's mouth from the staged car accident and the faded shadows beneath her eyes. And as Skye tries to guess at how long it's been since the woman slept, she is ashamed to realize that this is the first time she has considered how hard these past few days have been for anyone else on this team.

Fitz, Simmons, and Morse had to watch their friend turn into a monster and attack them. Coulson went head to head with her father and survived, but now has had to deliver the worst message imaginable to a mother who will never see her son again. All of them are still reeling from the loss of a teammate and having to proceed with ops like the world hasn't been shaken to its foundations. But May- May's been here all along, making sure they all come out on the other side.

However hard these days have been for everyone else, May's had to experience everything magnified and repeated-once in action, the events compounded by concern for the team, and again by proxy as she listened to everyone's debriefs.

_He's in charge of SHIELD, but she's in charge of us._

_Oh, May._

Skye has a feeling that only a slight movement will awaken a woman who as spent the last two years keeping vigil over everyone around her, and she is right. As she untangles their fingers and shifts beneath May's arm, drawing back a little so she can turn fully to face her, she hears the woman's breath catch, feels the slight tightening within her whole body in the automatic preparation for fight or flight. Skye watches her dark eyes flicker open, the preliminary sweep of the room, the split-second judgment of time, place, and threat level.

_Always ready to leap into action. Ready to protect._

May's eyes find and focus on hers. "How are you feeling?" Her voice is soggy with sleep.

But Skye doesn't have the words for it. Somehow, she feels her heart somehow crumbling and swelling at the same time, expanding with love and gratitude but cracking with guilt and unworthiness. She feels her lips pulling into a smile even as her eyes unexpectedly fill with tears, but this doesn't seem to answer May's question.

She raises her head off the pillow, rocking over on one elbow to face Skye.

"Skye? What is it?" A curtain has dropped in front of the tiredness in her voice-she's ready to jump in, ready to help-always ready to put herself between her team and the source of pain or fear.

_Whatever it is, let me help you._

Skye simply leans in and kisses her.

There's no thought, just need. Need to thank, assure, and confirm. To let May feel what she deserves to feel: valued. Loved. Treasured. And though May's lips at first remain still against hers, Skye doesn't make herself be cautious- only gentle. There was once a time that May stole (gave?) a similar kiss for a similar reason…a moment they never talked about. Never agreed had been the right or wrong thing to do in that moment. But right now, Skye's not second-guessing herself.

_She deserves so much more, but all I've got is this._

Skye pulls back far enough to look the woman in the eye briefly, giving her the chance to cut anything short. But when May only blinks in response, her expression-if nothing else-a little surprised, Skye leans back in to kiss her jaw, her cheek, her brow, kiss by reverent kiss.

Skye feels May's hand come to rest against her cheek, holding her gently, neither pushing nor pulling. Because of course, May wouldn't. Would never take advantage of a situation like this, would only respond as far as was helpful…and Skye realizes in that moment that in May's mind, even her relationship with Ward fell inside those parameters.

_Seeking to comfort in whatever way that comfort was best received._

_Would she…_

"Let me," Skye says softly against May's throat, her hand dragging meaningfully down the woman's side to rest on her hip. "Let me…for you…" She levers herself off her side and back over May, her knees landing on either side of the woman's hips as May lands on her back beneath her. Her heart is racing, but not from fear. If May had wanted her to stop, she would have said so already.

May doesn't say anything as Skye hovers over her, their eyes meeting again before Skye dips her head to kiss her lips once more. This time, May's mouth opens beneath hers, her fingers threading into Skye's hair and her other hand coming up to support Skye's weight with a palm against her ribs. The kiss she holds her in makes Skye's head spin, compounded as May plants one foot against the mattress and lifts her thigh until it meets the place where Skye's legs join.

Skye nearly shudders against May's lips. She definitely moans.

But this isn't supposed to be about her, and Skye attempts to take the lead back by plunging her hands into May's hair and holding her down by the shoulders as Skye rearranges their legs until her knee rubs the right place on May. She knows its right because the woman's breath catches and she immediately presses into the contact.

"_Skye..._" May exhales shakily as Skye tugs back the neck of May's shirt and drags her teeth gently down the woman's neck and across the skin of her collarbone. She is just about to do something about this shirt when suddenly-

"Skye, _stop._"

May's voice is barely louder, but the difference in tone makes Skye freeze, raising up to look May in the eye. The woman's eyes are blown black, her flushed lips parted, her hands fisted tightly in the fabric of Skye's shirt…

And that is the moment Skye realizes that the bed is quivering.

Fear and horror fill her immediately, displacing everything else in a single instant like a wave crashing into a house. Her breath freezes in her lungs, and though she doesn't know what is happening or what to do, she feels she has to get back, get away from May before she hurts her…

But May is unrelenting. She brings herself up with Skye's momentum, grabbing at Skye's wrists even as Skye tries to scramble away.

"Skye," she repeats calmly, as she catches one wrist and then the other in a precise grip. "_Skye. Look at me."_

And even though Skye is terrified of what she's going to see, she obeys, pursing her lips, trying to figure out how to make this shaking stop…

May's eyes are unafraid, her expression showing nothing but concern as she holds Skye's gaze. "Just breathe. Focus on what you're feeling. Whatever it is that feels new or unfamiliar. You feel it? Now hold it. Get to know it. It's yours to control."

Her hands trustingly release Skye's, falling instead to rest on her knees. "Whatever it is, it's in you, meaning _you_ make the rules. You tell it what to do. Where to go. I know you can do this. Breathe."

And Skye is breathing. Is feeling it. Feeling the buzzing within her, compounded by the previous moment, feeling its borders and finding its limits. She breathes and marks it off. She breathes and tramps it down. She breathes, pulls it all in, and shuts a lid.

When she opens her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them, the shaking has stopped.

May's lips turn into the suppressed smile that Skye hasn't seen in a long time-the expression reserved for when Skye impresses her. Skye doesn't deserve that. She drops her gaze.

_What do you even say after something like that?_

_That's inhuman? Horrific?_

"I'm not...I'm not the same."

May's hand covers hers lightly. "No. And neither is anyone else who just went through a trauma. You just have an added measure of change. That doesn't mean you're not yourself. This is just something new. Something new about you that you have to figure out now."

_Spoken like one who would know._

"Skye." May's tone is still gentle, but decisive. She feels May's other hand brush up her arm to cradle one side of her face. Skye looks up at her, eyes brimming with overwhelmed tears. "Skye. I'm not going anywhere. Whatever happens, I'm with you. So when you feel ready to talk about it…when you're ready to look at it head-on…don't be afraid to tell me. We'll figure this out. Together."

Maybe May doesn't know how much those words mean. Maybe she doesn't know that, to a girl who's used to dealbreakers meaning goodbyes and "too much" and "hard to handle" and "difficult" being labels that spell out _unwelcome_, May's words mean more than Skye can say. More than Skye _could_ say even if she were able to speak, so instead she just leans in and presses a final kiss to the woman's lips. May lets this one go on, on and on, until Skye feels full instead of empty and the hurt doesn't have any space to echo inside her. When she breaks the kiss, May simply pulls her into a silent embrace, sealing in the promise, holding her until Skye truly believes that she isn't letting go.

* * *

_Author's notes:_

_I never bought the 'only Fitz knows' storyline, even if it only lasted a single episode. The way May reacted when Skye's powers were exposed in front of everyone gave me the impression that she'd known the whole time._

_When I started writing Doors and was re-watching the episodes with an eye on Skye and May, one thing that was always so apparent was that Skye is crazy about May in a non-romantic way. The other was that May is a shield to everyone, always trying to bear the bulk of the pain or responsibility, though she usually doesn't get away with that with Coulson. Her relationship with Ward never really sat right with me, but seeing the way it probably fell out of an attempt to comfort him was also perfectly in character. I could see it easily going the same way with Skye. _

_How'd I do?_


End file.
